Antiques: Silver and porcelain among rare pieces at auction 

More than 20 pieces from the old Cork Mansion House service are up for sale at Woodwards

Cork silver cream jug by Croker Barrington at Woodwards.

About 300 lots of Cork and Irish silver and the biggest collection of Cork Mansion House mayoral service plates to come to auction for many years feature at Woodwards special auction of silver, art and collectibles next Saturday (October 22).

It is part of a feast of rare and collectible pieces due to come up at auction in Ireland in the coming week. 

Not least of these is a set of six Arts and Crafts dining chairs given by Michael Collins as a wedding present to his sister Mary which comes up at the Collector's Cabinet sale at Mullen's in Laurel Park today (€1,800-€2,200).

A rare pair of Power's Whiskey pillar framed advertising mirrors with Celtic lettering is lot 282 at Victor Mee's pub memorabilia sale next Tuesday and Wednesday (October 18 and 19) with an estimate of €8,000-€12,000. 

One of a rare pair of 19th-century Power's Whiskey pillar framed advertising mirrors at Victor Mee.

And collectors will be offered a wide range of appetising choices of quality antique Irish furniture, art and collectibles at the annual James Adam Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall near Drogheda next Monday (online) and Tuesday (live in Dublin). Viewing at Townley Hall is now underway.

Matthews Auctioneers of Kells will hold a two-day sale next Tuesday and Wednesday with 1,338 lots of antique furniture, jewellery, art and collectibles.

Woodwards will feature the collection of Lt Col Michael C Nolan of Cork. Prime lots of silver include a c1750 Cork silver cream jug by Croker Barrington (€1,200-€1,600), a silver sugar bowl by Matthew West (€800-€1,200) and a silver strawberry dish by William Egan and Sons (€500-€700). 

This Cork silver cream jug is expected to fetch between €1,200 and €1,600 at Woodwards next Saturday.

Other Cork silver pieces include a sugar tongs by James Salter, a pair of tablespoons by Isaac Solomon, four dessert spoons by William Reynolds and a fish server by Richard Garde and there are examples from Cork makers like Samuel Green, Carden Terry and Jane Williams and John Nicholson.

More than 20 pieces from the old Cork Mansion House service — designed by the renowned Cork-based architect Richard Pain (1793-1838) who was a pupil of John Nash — are included in the sale. 

The service was designed for the elegant old mansion house, now the Mercy Hospital. 

Single pieces from this historic service come up at auctions and fairs occasionally but in all my years of writing about antiques this is the first time I have seen such a collection.

A Cork Mansion House service tureen at Woodwards.

There is a tureen with a lid and plate, a large platter and a selection of dinner plates and soup bowls.

Selling as individual lots or pairs they are expected to make from €500-€1,200 per lot.

There is an interesting selection of art at Woodwards headed by Thatching in the Sun by Jack B Yeats and The Mountain Pool by Patrick Hennessey. 

Thatching in the Sun by Jack B Yeats at Woodwards.

Each of these works is estimated at €6,000-€8,000. There is art by Kenneth Webb, Anne Yeats, Peter Curling, Gladys Leach, Douglas Alexander, Norman Teeling, John Schwatschke, Marie Carroll and others. 

There will be viewing at Woodwards from 2pm to 4pm today and tomorrow and all next week. The catalogue is online and the online sale starts at 10am next Saturday.